While the two were pushing cups and changing cups, Katsu Kaishu asked how the Sendai clan would settle these refugees.
Kanbei Katayama was silent for a moment, and said with a wry smile: "There are no arrangements, and the feudal clan will not take care of it." After saying that, he slapped himself hard on the knee.
"What do you mean by this?"
"The order from the feudal lord is to wait for the refugees to leave on their own."
"If they leave, where can they go? To be honest, I have been to Hirosaki Domain before."
"Oh? How's the situation?" Katayama Kanbei was very surprised. He had only heard rumors about the disasters in various places from refugees and passers-by, but he didn't know the actual situation. And the situation here in Sendai Domain is much better than in other places.
"The farmland has failed to harvest, nine out of ten households are empty, and the hungry people eat each other." Sheng Haizhou said with a heavy face.
"!!!" Katayama Kanbei was shocked. He didn't expect the disaster in the Northeast to be so serious.
The Sendai Domain, where Katayama Kanbei is employed, has very good economic conditions among the island nation's feudal lords. The location of the fief itself is unique, and it is also close to the sea. The public salary of the Date family is 620,000 koku, but the actual salary is more than 2 million koku. In addition to reclaiming large areas of wetland for rice cultivation, the Sendai domain also has iron ores, and smelting and animal husbandry are also developed.
Unlike other feudal clans, the Date family implemented a monopoly called the "rice purchase system." The rice confiscated in the territory was shipped from Ishinomaki Port to Edo for sale. The profit was huge and it once accounted for half of the rice circulating in the Edo market.
At the same time, the Sendai Domain also sold part of its rice and aquatic products to Osaka to strengthen ties with the Kyoto government.
The island nation’s long-famous “Yoshipin abalone” and shark fins and other figurines actually came from the Sendai clan. However, it is processed into dried abalone and then sold under the name of "Nagasaki Fisheries" to the neighboring Obisei.
The most violent thing "One-Eyed Dragon Masamune" did in foreign trade was to send envoys to the Holy See in the eighteenth year of Keicho, hoping to conduct direct trade. However, because Tokugawa Ieyasu implemented a policy of seclusion and severe restrictions on Catholicism, the negotiations failed.
Although the Sendai Domain was very wealthy, agriculture still played a very important pillar role in the Sendai Domain's economy. Once a famine occurred, the Date family would not be able to withstand it.
However, at this time, the famine in the Northeast has not completely affected this area. Therefore, in addition to the increase in the number of homeless people in the cities and towns, the Sendai clan was still singing and dancing on the surface.
Katsu Kaishu carefully recounted what he saw and heard along the way in the Northeast. He did not mention Zhao Xin. After so long, he had long understood that Zhao Xin was not from the island country; but he was not from the Qing country either, because Zhao Xin did not have braids, including the later Liu Sheng.
For such an outsider of unknown origin, once the government knows his whereabouts, he will be killed.
Kanbei Katayama just listened to Katsu Kaishu's story, sometimes getting angry and sometimes scolding him. He didn't even move his chopsticks to his favorite dish of kabayaki-roasted eel rice in front of him.
"Then according to your opinion, how can we help the victims?"
Katsu Kaishu hesitated for a moment. He had just met the Katayama Kanbei in front of him, and if he talked too much, his friendship would be superficial. So he sighed helplessly: "I have been thinking hard for many days and can't come up with any good ideas."
Kanbei Katayama looked at Katsu Kaishu with a smile. He knew that the young man opposite did not say everything. From the beginning of their acquaintance, he felt that something was wrong with this young ronin.
How ostentatious is this? An ordinary young samurai travels far away with two followers? And the two attendants were well dressed.
Secondly, Katayama Kanbei noticed that Katsu Kaishu's accent was completely different from that of the two followers. The accents of those two people were Northeastern accents. This ronin samurai from Omi Kingdom finds two people from Mutsu as his followers? This is unreasonable.
So Kanbei Katayama stopped asking, and the two of them didn't say anything else. They just asked the landlady to heat up the cold food and finished it hastily.
After exiting the tavern, Kanbei Katayama thanked Katsu Kaishu for his hospitality. He said that he was a local, but it ended up costing Sheng Haizhou money. He then pointed to a residential area to the west of the tavern and told Sheng Haizhou that his home was there. If Sheng Haizhou didn't leave these days, he hoped to invite him to his home for a casual meal the day after tomorrow.
Sheng Haizhou thought about it and thought it was an opportunity to inquire about information, so he readily agreed.
After Katayama Kanbei left, Kuzo and Heita who were waiting on the side walked behind Katsu Kaishu. Pingtai asked: "What does this person do?"
"The unity of the town's administrative office."
"Will that...?" Pingtai didn't say anything further. He was worried that there would be some trouble.
"Don't worry. He also invited me to be a guest at his home the day after tomorrow. This guy is a bit interesting." Katsu Kaishu looked at the direction Katayama Kanbei was leaving and smiled.
"Sir Katsu." Jiuzang suddenly called Katsu Kaishu.
"Huh?" Katsu Kaishu turned around and saw Jiuzang hesitantly pulling out a little girl from behind.
"This child is..." Sheng Haizhou knew from the child's appearance that he was a refugee. It was already October, and the weather was getting colder. The girl's clothes were all torn into strips. She was still barefoot, with her hands clasped in front of her chest, trembling slightly.
"Where did it come from?"
"Both of us don't know. We just noticed this child following us when we were eating. Jiuzang thought she was pitiful, so he bought her two rice balls. After eating, he asked her where she was from and where her family was. I didn't say anything. Later, I took her to ask the refugees over there, but they all said they didn't know her." Pingtai explained while scratching his head.
"Oh, even if we knew each other, we wouldn't say anything." Sheng Haizhou sighed.
"I think she really doesn't know her, otherwise she would have reacted when she saw her family. When Pingtai asked those refugees, I kept paying attention to her." Jiuzang touched the girl's head, raised his head and explained to Katsu Kaishu.
Sheng Haizhou knelt down in front of the girl and found that the girl's long, disheveled hair hid a pair of big, shining eyes. When the girl saw Sheng Haizhou facing her, she hid back a little in fear.
"Don't be afraid, tell me, how old are you?" Sheng Haizhou asked the girl pleasantly.
The girl hesitated for a moment, seemingly moved by the gentle smile and voice of the young man opposite her, and said hesitantly: "...Nine years old."
"Where is your family?"
The girl looked up at Heita and Jiuzang who were surrounding her, then at Katsu Kaishu, lowered her head and said nothing.
Katsu Kaishu saw that some people in the crowd on the street were already looking at him, and then said to Heita and Jiuzang: "Take her back to the inn."
The four of them returned to the inn, and Katsu Kaishu asked the other three to follow him to Shangsu's house.
After several people sat down, Sheng Haizhou asked Pingtai to pour a cup of hot water for the girl, then put the quilt he covered on the girl, and then asked her: "What's your name?"
"A Miao."
"where is your house?"
"Nagano Haramachi."
The three of them were confused after hearing this and couldn't figure out where this place was.
"Azuma County." A Miao quickly added after seeing the three people looking at her blankly.
"Oh. It turns out it belongs to the Takasaki Matsudaira clan." As soon as Katsu Kaishu heard about Azuma County, he immediately knew where it was. But then he was shocked, good fellow, Azuma County is right on the edge of Asama Mountain.
Immediately, he took a deep breath to calm down his emotions and continued to ask A Miao softly.
"Where is your family?"
"My mother and brother were buried by the flash flood..." A Miao lowered her head and began to tremble all over.
"Then, where are the others?" Pingtai asked from the side.
"Grandma, grandma hanged herself." A Miao's tears began to fall on the rush mat. Sheng Haizhou and Jiuzang comforted each other for a long time, and then they asked about A Miao's situation.
The little girl's home is located at the northern foot of Mount Asama. When Mount Asama volcano erupted in July, the village where Amiao's family was located was destroyed by lava and mudslides, and all the houses in the village were buried.
A Miao's mother and brother were buried under the mudslide because they had no time to escape. A Miao and her grandmother were digging wild vegetables outside the village, and they escaped. But the food shortage that comes with natural disasters makes people even more desperate. The old lady didn't want to be a burden to her granddaughter, so she hanged herself.
As for A Miao's father, he was originally a ronin warrior. When A Miao was five years old, he didn't know where he went, and there has been no news.
After grandma died, Amiu, led by the surviving villagers, followed Shimono, Iwaki, to Sendai Domain, and finally came to Matsushima Town.
When Sheng Haishu was giving alms to the refugees on the street, A Miao, who was huddled on a street corner to avoid the cold, saw Heita and Jiuzang following behind Sheng Haishu. She felt that the man who was giving away his property was a good man, and he was going out with two followers, so maybe it would be okay to take one more of her in. So she followed behind until Katsu Kaishu and Katayama Kanbei entered the tavern, and then followed Kuzo and Heita.
what to do?
After listening to A Miaolu's story one after another, Sheng Haizhou felt a little embarrassed. In his opinion, most of the more than 100 people on Bear Island are old people, young women, and children, and cannot do heavy physical work at all. Zhao Xin also told himself that the main purpose of coming to Sendai Domain this time was to see if he could find and take away some strong laborers to prepare for land reclamation in the coming year.
The ship can't hold many people in one trip, but now that we haven't found any strong laborers, another little girl has arrived...
A Miao looked at Sheng Haizhou thoughtfully and silently, feeling a little panicked. She felt that the old samurai man in front of her was quite nice. He could bring her to the inn and put his own quilt over her.
The little girl mustered up all her courage and knelt down in front of Sheng Haizhou: "Master, I don't have much to eat. I can also cook, wash clothes, and take care of children. Please take pity on me and keep me here."
After listening to A Miao's words, Sheng Haizhou and the others didn't even have the courage to refute.
"You will stay here for the next few days. As for whether I can accept you, I have to report to the lord."
"Ah? Your lord?" A Miao raised her head in confusion, and there was also a lord?
…
"The oysters from Sendai are really good, better than those in China. The grilled eel is also good...Hey, why don't you eat it?"
In the hot spring hotel, Liu Sheng was devouring palm-sized oyster sashimi while praising it profusely.
"I can't eat anymore. You are too good at eating these! Eat less oysters. If you eat too much of these, you will get angry."
Zhao Xin, who had eaten a full lunch, was persuading while searching for the beauties in the restaurant with his eyes.
"This life is so decadent." Liu Sheng swallowed the last oyster on the plate and sat down on the chair with his head raised in satisfaction.
"Be content. You have also seen those refugees. Compared with them, we are in a honeypot."
"Hey, I really didn't expect that the ancient farmers of the island country were so miserable."
"It's all the same. The farmers over there in Qing Dynasty are not much better. You'll know when you have a chance to see it with your own eyes."
"All reactionaries must be defeated!" Liu Sheng straightened up and said fiercely.
"It's not as easy as you said. We have just begun the long journey." Zhao Xin retracted his wandering eyes, stretched out his left hand, and gestured with the tip of his little finger.
At this moment, Zhao Xin suddenly felt something in his heart, and a vague idea gradually emerged. He immediately said to Liu Sheng: "You should seize the time to contact your comrades and see what they are doing after they retire. Let's have a targeted chat. By the way, we only have time these days. Wait until the ice melts in the spring next year. , we have to pick up more people to Bear Island."
Liu Sheng asked doubtfully: "Are you really planning to pick up a group of little devils?"
Zhao Xin corrected him: "They are all poor peasants, and we can't even call them Japs right now. Besides, there will be a big disaster in the Qing Dynasty in two years."
"where?"
"Henan."
"Why are there disasters on both sides?"
"In meteorology, it seems to be called the 'Second Warm Period', which is simply called the El Niño phenomenon. I also checked the information and found out that the climate has been warming since the 18th century. So, you have to hurry up and find the crew. Just rely on this What can a yacht be used for? We need to get a big boat."
"So you're all pointing at me?" Liu Sheng's eyes widened and he asked, pointing to his nose.
"Hey~~ I said, you said you had thought about it and decided to join. I can only blame you on this matter. I have already thought about it. I have to buy a big ship of seven or eight thousand tons, and I will do it later. "
"I'll go! A sea freighter needs at least 15 crew members. I said, what are you doing?"
"I have to be responsible for making money, right? Besides, spring has come on Bear Island and we need to open up wasteland for sowing, right? I have to take care of the seeds, tools, drinking water, personal hygiene, and all the mess. How about we switch? I'm still depressed. .”
"Okay, stop it. You asked me to train soldiers, and you asked me to command farming...forget it."
"This is over. Just wait until we get through this winter." Zhao Xin said with confidence.
Liu Sheng poured himself a cup of tea, drank it in one gulp, and then said: "Let me tell you, what do you think about the Qing Dynasty? What are we going to do?"
"It's all over the place." Zhao Xin said jokingly. "There are just two of us now, with a group of old, weak, women and children. We are not even as good as Commander Hu. There are still more than a dozen people with seven or eight guns."
"But I read online that they say 'Wear clean clothes and rebel, otherwise your chrysanthemums will not be protected'?"
"It's about wearing it clean and not rebelling. It's a chrysanthemum with an electric drill." Zhao Xin turned around and said unhurriedly. "Let's take a stand in the north and talk about other things now. The economic foundation determines the force. Without strong industrial strength, it won't be possible."
In fact, Zhao Xin didn't say a word. Faith determines success or failure. Without a correct belief, even if the Qing army is defeated, it will not be able to hold on.
